Telephone direction plate



Nov. 29, 1932. G. A. LONG TELEPHONE DIRECTION PLATE Filed Jan; 25, 19:50

fecelverand deposlt Orwatollcall` de Patented Nov. 29, 1932 UNITEDSTATES PATENT o1-"FicaA GEORGE A. LONG, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT,ASSIGNOR ,TOA THE' GRAY TELEPHONE;

PAY STATION COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT', A. CORPORATION OFV'CON-f N ECTICUT TELEPHONE ninnorlon PLATE Y;

Application inea January 25, 19430; serian No,y 433,395. l

My invention relatesV to the class of devices V My improved plateconsists of a facev 5 of that are employed for displaying information orother visible matter, as directions for operating a telephone or otherVinstrument by the deposit of a coin, and an object of my invention,among others, is to provide a direction plate having transparentqualities to permit the directions to be readily seen and to retain inposition all cracked or bro-ken parts of a fragile nature in the eventthat such parts become shattered.

One form of a direction plate embodying my invention and in theconstruction and use of which the'objects herein set out, as well asothers, may be attained, is illustrated 1n the accompanying drawing, inwhich- Figure l is a face view of a direction plate embodying myinvention.

Figure 2 is an edge view of the same.

Figure 3 is a view in cross-section on an enlarged scale and with thethickness of different portions greatly exaggerated in order to clearlybring out they relationship of the arts. p My invention is especiallyapplicable to direction plates commonly employed on com controlledmechanisms, and particularly telephone pay stations, to inform customershow to use the device, and I have therefore selected a plate commonlyused in connection with a telephone instrument for the purpose ofillustration and description of my invention herein, but it will beunderstood that the invention may be embodied in structures used forother purposes than in connection with telephones or coin controlledinstruments.

It is common practice in the formation of structures of this class toemploy a face plate of glass and to enclose the direction plate within aframe attached tothe instrument in connection with which the directionplate is used. This glass is liable to be broken and jutting pieces ofglass held by thevframe become in such case a source of imminent dangerto users of the instrument. A plate made in accordance with my inventionillustrated and described herein eliminates this danger as any brokenpieces of glass will be securely held in place and will be preventedfrom jut-A ting in a dangerousmanner.

glass of mediumthiclrness for the purpose in hand, and to the back ofthis glass `a sheet 6 of toughY transparent material is secured. vI havefound that celluloid will answer this purposel to a satisfactory degree.The celluloid is secured to the glass by an adhesive that hasan aiiinityfor both the glass and celluloid so that the latter is held securely inplaceunder varying conditions of tempera- 'ture and other elementscommonly present around telephone instruments. f f

The directions are placed upon the back of this Celluloid sheetpreferably by the usefof l paint 7 formingiadirection layer or coat, in

the preferred' form, and as illustrated here-l in,this paint being blackand the letters bebel of waterproof material-or ofvany 'other materialsuitable for the purpose.

` It has been found that it is practically im.-

possible to so shatter aplate thus constructed that anyV particles'ofglass will protrude.

An identification tab 9 maybe secured to the back of the plate neary itsupper edge Whichmay receive on the back vthereof numbers Vor namesdesignating the telephone-or other instrument in connection with whichthe direction plate may be used, these characters being placed upsidedown so that the tab, being folded into position as shown in dottedlines in Figure 2, will have the desigof the covering coat. Thiscoveringcoat may nating characters displayed through an opening 10formed in the coating 7 of the direction layer onthe back of the plateright side up.

I claim- Y V1. A direction plate assembly adapted for telephone orsimilar service wherein direction reading is required undertheconditions of reflected light, said assembly including a face plate oftransparent sheet material of frangible characteristic such as toproduce sharp edges when broken, a backing sheet of tough transparentmaterial tenaciously secured to the rear of the face plate and. serv.-ing to` maintain the position;V of faceplate fragments when the faceplate is broken, the

rear' face of the backing sheet carrying the A direction indicia7 said'indicia? being `provided by successive coatings ofcontrasting'` colorcharacteristic With the first coating of stencil-like arrangement topresent the indicia characters as uncoated portions of the backingsheet, the second coating' being exposed through both sheets solely asthe characters forming the indicia, whereby the indicia is readablethrough both sheets and will be unaffected by breaking of the frangibleface plate While the first coating Will provide a definite and uniformcolor background for the indicia. Characters.

2. A direction plateassembly adapted for telephoneY or similarservice'wherein direction' reading is required under the conditions of.reflected light, said assembly including a face plate of transparentsheet material of frangible characteristic such asto produce sharpedgesjwhen broken, a backing sheet 55; of toughtransparent materialtenaciously secured to the rear of the face plate and serving tomaintain the position of face plate fragments-When the face platerisbroken, the rear face of the backing sheet carrying thedirection-indicia, said'indicia vbeing, provided by successivecoatingsof contrasting color characteristicrwith the firstcoating ofstencil-likelarrangement to present the indicia characters as uncoatedportions of the backing sheet,the second'k coating being exposed throughboth sheets solely as the characters forming the indicia, whereby theindicia is readable through both sheets and=Will be unl Y i affected bybreaking of the frangible face plate While the first coating WillVprovide a definite and uniformcolor background for the indiciacharacters,. and a tab securedto the backing sheet and adapted tobefolded into position inv rear of,v the coatings,v said foldedA tabhaving its unexposed face providedwith indicia, saidbackingsheet havingax Zone lfree from coating opposite the position ofi-the tabindicia.

GEORGE A. LONG.

